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Tuesday, 18 February 2014

Taking a step back, to re-affirm the design stage

Expanding the 15 word description of the novel.

Note: This is a direct transcription from my notebook (handwritten) and is basically the suggested stage 2 of the Snowflake method for designing a novel. This is to extend the single sentence into five, each describing a part of the story; an introduction, at least three major disasters and the ending.

First a quick look at the first sketch of my new world, from that same notebook. Just for fun :)

It is a watery world, this sketch shows the main island continents, with names and the locations of a few major towns. The names are probably temporary (I can always use search and replace later to change them; but having something to use makes it easier to write about them). So, the world is called WRAGROND. Directly above that name is the largest continent ALENDRYA, and the shaded part of that (almost centre on the image is King Eadwyne's land of MERICNDIR. Two towns are shown, called CANDIR and TE-CANDIR. The former is the capital and is the location of CASTLE CANDIR, the royal palace which plays a major part in the early story. But now back to the extened description ....

Encounter with FEAR.

Eadwyne is called to raise an army from Mericandir to join his Liege Lord, in a distant war fighting insurgents and pirates. Before leaving his own Castle, Eadwyne and his army are to be blessed by his court magician, at which event a magical accident creates an evil twin of the king.

The campaign goes badly at first and lasts much longer than expected. Eadwyne eventually returns home to find his kingdom ruled by the evil twin, known as FEAR, who has the ability to read peoples's dreams and nightmares and their worst fears are used them against them.

Eadwyne is imprisoned when he tries to reclaim his castle and his lands and people, he is thrown into the dungeons with many of his followers.

Eadwyne and the magician, Dinbar, gradually come to understand the source of FEAR's powers and his creation as a result of that accident.

With the downfall and removal of FEAR, life returns to normal for the honest folk of Mericandir.

OK, so some of the single sentences are not quite that, shouldn't be a problem. I am just outling the story and that is the main consideration here.

I will be posting regularly so don't forget to visit and find out how I am getting on with this my first novel. I guess my only problem is just how much of the story to include in these pages. I already have devised a theory for the way that "magic" can work (after all I am a scientist, and everything must have an explanation) and how an accident can have massive and unknown results. BUT should I make this depth of detail known before the story is written and available in book form. If I put too much into the blog, then it might affect the sales figures. :)

But seriously, should I effectively serialise the book, or keep some of the best bits to be enjoyed by the ultimate reading experience. It is planned to make the book available for free as an eBook, at least to start with.

I shall certainly keep up with what I am doing, and sharing my experience of writing my first novel but as for more ..... keep coming back to find out.